By Kate Whatley, Raise the Roof founder and Elevate Roofing Advisory Limited director. 

One woman’s mission to redefine the U.K. roofing industry. 

I didn’t come into roofing expecting to change it. But somewhere between running a various commercial roofing and cladding businesses, sitting on boards and watching talented people — especially women — walk away from an industry that should have fought to keep them, I made a decision: I wasn’t going to wait for the industry to get better. I was going to work to build the version of it I believed in. 

That’s what the last few years have been about. Not one project. Not one organisation. A whole ecosystem — deliberately constructed, interconnected and pointed at the same thing: an industry that is more professional, more inclusive, more sustainable and genuinely worth staying in. 

Raise the Roof: From community to movement 

Raise the Roof started as Women in Roofing over 10 years ago as a space for women in the U.K. roofing and built sector to support one another, network, inspire, share and be seen. Women in roofing held many suecessful and well attended conferences and events and built a community of like minded people.  

What it’s becoming now is something bigger. After years of running it as a voluntary group, we are now turning it into a properly structured, commercially sustainable organisation — because good intentions don’t create systemic change.  

Resources do. Infrastructure does. Ambition does. 

This October, Raise the Roof is hosting its first annual conference with the theme "Rise. Lead. Redefine." on 20 October 2026. It’s a full-day event bringing together women across roofing and construction for real conversations about leadership, strategy, visibility and what it actually takes to build a career, or a business, in this industry. 

This isn’t a networking lunch. This is a professional development event with teeth. Keynotes, workshops, panels and an evening celebration — all designed to send delegates back to their businesses and their teams with more clarity, more confidence and a bigger sense of what’s possible. 

We are also honoured to have National Women in Roofing from America joining us for the day making it a truly international affair! 

Rise. Lead. Redefine. isn’t just a conference theme. It’s a brief. 

Elevate Roofing Advisory: Raising the standard of business in the sector 

The second strand of what I’m building is Elevate Roofing Advisory Limited — a specialist consultancy working directly with roofing business owners who are ready to operate at a higher level. 

The roofing industry in the UK has an enormous skills gap, a professionalism gap, and — I’ll say it — a leadership gap. There are genuinely talented operators in this sector who are running businesses on gut instinct and graft alone, with no strategic framework, no structured people processes and no clear vision for where they’re going. 

Elevate exists to change that. 

Working on a two-day deep dive model followed by flexible ongoing advisory support, I work with owners across four focus areas: strategy, people and processes, brand development and long-term goal setting. It’s not generic business coaching. It’s built specifically for the realities of running a roofing business — the subcontractors, the seasonality, the client relationships, the pressure of being both the expert and the entrepreneur. 

The businesses I work with come out of it with clarity. With a plan. And with someone in their corner who genuinely understands the landscape they’re operating in working alongside their teams and writing the next chapter with them. 

The industry deserves better than operating by default. Elevate is how I’m helping to make that happen, one business at a time. 

SPV training solutions: Building the workforce of the future 

Training is where it all starts. You can’t have a better industry without better-prepared people entering it. That’s why my work with SPV Training Solutions matters so much to me. SPV delivers specialist roof sheeting and cladding training — technical, hands-on, industry-relevant. It’s the kind of training that creates genuine competency, not just compliance. 

This isn’t box-ticking. It’s about raising the baseline of what the industry expects from its workforce — and what its workforce expects from itself. When people are properly trained, properly supported and properly valued from the start of their careers, the whole system gets better. 

After partnering with Juniper Training in 2019 and setting up a training centre in conjunction, together we have been involved in bringing over 200 new entrants into the roofing sector making a real difference to the industry and the communities we live in. 

Every one of those people is evidence that this industry, when it opens its doors properly, has more than enough space for the talent that wants to come in. 

I have always been an ambassador of apprenticeships and apprentices bring fresh ideas, enthusiasm and are the future of the industry. 

The bigger picture: What I’m actually fighting for 

Let me be direct about what underpins all of this. I believe the UK roofing industry is capable of being far better than it currently is — more professional, more diverse, more attractive to talent and more respected within the wider built environment. Everything I am working on currently supports my longer term vision.  

Raise the Roof builds community, visibility and professional momentum for women in the sector.  The Rise. Lead. Redefine. Conference creates the flagship moment that the industry calendars around. 

Elevate Roofing Advisory raises the standard of how roofing businesses are run.  

SPV Training Solutions ensures the next generation comes in better equipped than the last. 

None of these exist in isolation. They’re part of the same campaign — the same argument made in different forms — that this industry is worth investing in, and that the people within it deserve to work in something they’re proud of. 

I’ve spent years on boards, in governance roles, in voluntary leadership and in the trenches of commercial leadership. I’ve seen what the industry looks like from every angle. And I’ve never been more convinced that we’re at a genuine inflection point and that will only happen with collaboration and forward thinking.  

By Kate Whatley, Elevate Roofing Advisory.

The case for commercial advisory in roofing, and why now is exactly the right time.

Let’s be honest about where we are.     

The roofing and wider construction market is under pressure. Material costs remain volatile, labour is scarce, margins are being squeezed from every direction and the pipeline that looked healthy twelve months ago feels a lot less certain today. Contractors across the sector — from sole traders to established SMEs — are navigating one of the most challenging trading environments in recent memory. 

And yet, for most business owners in roofing, the response to that pressure is to put their heads down and work harder. More hours. More firefighting. More reactive decisions made at speed, under stress, with one eye on the next job and the other on the bank balance. 

I understand that instinct. I’ve lived it. But it’s precisely the wrong response — and it’s costing businesses more than they realise. 

I learned this industry the hard way — and I’m proud of it 

My introduction to roofing came through my dad. Like so many in this sector, I grew up around the industry, absorbing its rhythms, its language, its values. That grounding is something I carry with me and genuinely treasure.

There is a quality of knowledge that only comes from having people you respect show you how things are done — from the ground up, without shortcuts. My dad was exactly that person for me, and the work ethic, pride in craft and commitment to doing a job properly that I witnessed in him shaped who I am as a professional. 

But the industry my dad came into, and the industry we operate in today, are very different places. 

The commercial requirements now placed on roofing contractors — particularly those working in or moving into the commercial sector — have changed beyond recognition. Procurement processes are more complex. Contractual risk has multiplied. Clients and specifiers expect a level of professionalism, compliance and documentation that simply wasn’t part of the conversation a generation ago. Health and safety legislation, fire performance requirements post-Grenfell, sustainability expectations, digital project management — the list of things a roofing business must now demonstrate competence in, before anyone even looks at your price, is substantial. 

That is not a criticism of where the industry came from. It is a recognition of where it must go. 

Over more than twenty years working at director level across roofing and construction — leading commercial functions, managing complex contracts, building and developing teams and driving business growth — I’ve had a front-row seat to that transformation. I’ve negotiated contracts that protected businesses from serious risk. I’ve built commercial teams from scratch. I’ve helped businesses win work they didn’t think they could win, and I’ve seen what it costs businesses that aren’t prepared for the commercial environment they’re operating in. 

That experience is what I bring to the contractors I work with through Elevate. Not theory. Not a framework lifted from a generic business textbook. Roofing-specific, commercially grounded, hard-won knowledge — applied directly to your business, by someone who has sat in the chair you’re sitting in. 

“The industry my dad came into and the industry we operate in today are very different places — and bridging that gap is exactly what Elevate exists to do.” 

An industry in transition 

The roofing sector is at a genuine inflection point. 

Regulatory change is reshaping how buildings are designed, specified and maintained. The Building Safety Act and its wider implications are still working their way through the supply chain, and contractors who understand their responsibilities — and can evidence them — will be in a very different position to those who don’t. Competence is no longer assumed. It must be demonstrated. 

At the same time, the workforce is changing. An ageing demographic means the industry is losing experience faster than it is building it. The skills gap is real, and it will not be solved without deliberate, sustained investment in training, development and the attraction of new people into the sector. This is not someone else’s problem. It is every contractor’s problem — and every contractor’s opportunity. 

Client expectations are shifting, too. Sustainability credentials, social value commitments and supply chain transparency are increasingly standard requirements on commercial tenders, not optional extras. The contractors positioning themselves to meet those requirements now will be the ones winning the work tomorrow. 

The roofing businesses that will lead in this environment are not necessarily the biggest. They are the best prepared — professionally, commercially and culturally. 

The firefighting trap 

There’s a version of running a roofing business that looks productive from the outside. The phones are ringing, the vans are moving and everyone is busy. But busy and purposeful are not the same thing. 

When you’re firefighting every day — chasing payments, managing last-minute scheduling, dealing with site problems, plugging gaps in your workforce — you are operating entirely in the reactive. You’re not running your business. Your business is running you. 

The real danger isn’t the fire itself. It’s that while you’re putting it out, nobody is thinking about where you’re going. 

Strategic goals — the things that actually determine whether your business is still here and thriving in five years — don’t get achieved through good intentions. They are achieved through deliberate, consistent decision-making. Every pricing decision, every hire, every subcontractor relationship, every tender you do or don’t pursue should be aligned with where you are trying to go. When you’re firefighting, that alignment disappears. You make decisions based on what’s urgent, not what’s important. And that gap between urgency and importance is where businesses quietly start to drift. 

“You’re not running your business. Your business is running you.” 

Why now is the right time to review 

I hear it regularly: “Things are tough right now — we’ll sort the processes out when it’s busier.” 

I’d argue the opposite. A quieter pipeline is not a threat to your business — it’s a window. It is arguably the best opportunity you will have to step back, look honestly at how your business operates and build the foundations that will determine how you come out the other side. 

When the market improves — and it will — the businesses that thrive will not be the ones that simply survived. They will be the ones who used this period to sharpen their systems, clarify their purpose, strengthen their teams and position themselves to win better work. The ones that are still winging it, still running on chaos, still without clear processes and a defined direction — they’ll be busy again, briefly. But they won’t be better. 

Now is the time to review your processes and procedures. Now is the time to look at your estimating, your contract management, your supply chain relationships, your HR practices, your financial controls. Not because they’re broken, but because good businesses don’t wait for something to break before they look at it. 

Standing out as a brand 

In a market where price pressure is intense, the easiest trap is to compete on price. It’s a race to the bottom, and there are no winners. 

The businesses I most admire in this sector — the ones building something genuinely sustainable — have made a different choice. They’ve decided to stand for something. 

Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your website. It’s the answer to the question: why would someone choose you? And in roofing, where trust is everything, that question matters enormously. Clients want to work with contractors who are professional, reliable and credible. Specifiers want partners they can stand behind. Main contractors want subcontractors who won’t let them down. 

If you can articulate clearly what you stand for — your values, your standards, your approach — and if that is visible and consistent in everything you do, you will attract better clients, better projects and better people. Brand is not a marketing exercise. It is a commercial strategy. 

Creating an environment people are proud to work in 

One of the most powerful things a roofing business can do right now costs very little money and requires no consultant: treat your people properly. 

I don’t mean just paying a fair wage, though that matters. I mean creating a culture where people know what’s expected of them, where they’re developed and supported, where their contribution is recognised and where they feel they belong to something worthwhile. An environment that people are proud to be part of. 

The labour challenge in roofing is not going away. The businesses that will be best placed to attract and retain the right people — in any market — are those with a genuine culture of respect and investment. That includes investing in skills: formal qualifications, on-the-job development, mentoring. It includes investing in the future generation of the workforce, because if we don’t bring new people into this industry with pride and purpose, we will all be poorer for it. 

Doing the right thing — by your people, your clients, your subcontractors — is not idealism. It is good business. 

The right support, at the right stage 

Every business has a different set of challenges, and no two roofing contractors are at the same point in their journey. What they share is the need for clear thinking, strategic direction and someone who understands both the commercial realities of running a building business and the specific dynamics of roofing. 

That’s what commercial advisory brings. 

Whether you’re going through a period of significant change — a restructure, a rebrand, a key person departing — or you’re actively growing and need the infrastructure to support that growth, there is value in having experienced, independent support. Whether you’re exploring succession planning and need to build a business that can stand without you, or you’re a domestic contractor taking your first steps into commercial work and navigating a very different procurement landscape, the right advisory relationship will accelerate your progress and reduce your risk. 

Moving from domestic to commercial is one of the biggest transitions a roofing business can make — and one of the most misunderstood. It is not simply doing the same work on larger buildings. It is a fundamentally different commercial environment: different contracts, different risk profiles, different client relationships, different cash flow dynamics. I’ve operated in that environment for over two decades, and helping contractors navigate that transition safely and successfully is one of the things I find most rewarding about this work. 

Elevate is not about bringing in an outsider who tells you what to do. It’s about having someone alongside you who asks the right questions, challenges your assumptions, helps you align your daily decisions with your long-term goals and holds you accountable to the direction you’ve set. At Elevate I help completely understand the business and each challenges and every business has a very different story. I then help write the next chapter.  

The question worth asking 

When did you last spend a full day working on your business rather than in it? 

If you can’t remember, that’s your answer. 

The market will improve. The question is what kind of business you’ll be when it does. The decisions you make now — about your systems, your brand, your people, your direction — will determine that far more than the next job you price or the next fire you put out. 

The industry is changing. The requirements are greater, the scrutiny is sharper and the gap between businesses that are genuinely well-run and those that are not is widening. That is not something to fear. It is something to use. 

“The businesses that will lead are not necessarily the biggest. They are the best prepared.” 

If this has resonated, I’d welcome a conversation. 

About Kate Whatley

Kate Whatley is the founder of Elevate Roofing Advisory, a specialist consultancy for SME roofing businesses and co-founder of Raise the Roof, the U.K. diversity, inclusion and leadership organisation for the roofing and built environment sector. Kate is also director of SPV Training and set up a roofing provision with Juniper Training that has brought over 250 new entrants to the sector.

With over 20 years of director-level experience across roofing and construction, Kate works with roofing businesses at every stage — from growth and commercial transition through to succession planning and cultural development.  

She is recognised as one of the Top 100 Influential Women in Construction 2025, a 5% Club Fellow and honorary treasurer of the Institute of Roofing 

By Kate Whatley for National Women in Roofing.

Why National Roofing Week is about all of us.

Every year, National Roofing Week gives our industry a moment to pause and celebrate the work we do. The craft, the grit, the skill. The people who show up every single day in all weathers, doing work that the world depends on but rarely notices until something goes wrong.

And that celebration matters. It genuinely does.

But above and beyond celebration we know that our industry has more potential than it’s currently realising. And unlocking that potential requires us to do something that doesn’t always come naturally to people who are used to working independently, in their own patch, on their own terms.

It requires us to collaborate. To share. To look beyond our own borders. 

The roof doesn’t stop at the border 

I’m based in the Midlands in the U.K. I’ve spent over two decades in the roofing industry — in operations, in leadership, in training, in advocacy. When I first connected with National Women in Roofing USA, what struck me wasn’t the differences between our two industries. It was how profoundly similar the challenges are. 

The same barriers, the same conversations happening and also the same extraordinary resilience. The same passion. The same hunger to make the industry better. 

Our Atlantic distance as a divide, it is an opportunity. We’re facing the same challenges and we should be sharing the same solutions.

Real collaboration means picking up the phone to someone in a different country, a different specialism, a different background — and genuinely listening. It means sharing what’s worked. Being honest about what hasn’t. Asking questions without ego. Offering insight without agenda.

It means a roofing professionals on both sides of the atlatic realising they have more in common than either of them thought, and building something useful from that realisation. It means mentors sharing the knowledge it took them years to earn — freely, generously — so that the next generation doesn’t have to work as hard just to reach the starting line. It means organisations like National Women in Roofing USA and Raise the Roof in the U.K. standing together, not in competition, but in alignment — because we are working toward the same future, just from different points on the map.

That’s the version of collaboration I believe in. And National Roofing Week is the perfect moment to commit to it more deeply.

Ideas are not finite resources

One of the most important things I’ve learned in my career is that knowledge shared is notknowledge lost. It doesn’t diminish when you give it away. It multiplies.

The roofing industry has an enormous wealth of expertise sitting in the heads and hands of people who’ve spent decades in the trade. Techniques. Systems. Ways of thinking. Hard-won lessons from projects that pushed every boundary imaginable. And so much of it is never passed on.

Not out of selfishness, necessarily — but out of habit. Out of a culture that has historically treated knowledge as competitive advantage rather than collective resource. Out of the belief, sometimes unspoken, that the way we do things here is the only way worth knowing.

When we share ideas across borders — across countries, companies, generations, backgrounds — we don’t just spread good practice. We elevate it. We interrogate it. We find ways to make it better than any one of us could alone. The best innovations in any industry don’t come from isolation. They come from connection.

Breaking the barriers that are still there

It requires each of us to want more. Not just for ourselves, but for the industry as a whole. 

Want More — For All of It

This is the message I carry with me everywhere I go in this industry. It’s what Elevate Advisory and Raise the Roof were built on. It’s what I hear echoed in every conversation I have with women in roofing on both sides of the Atlantic.

Want more for your business. Want more for your people. Want more for the next generation who is watching us right now, deciding whether this is a place worth building a future.

This week why not reach out to someone you’ve never spoken to. Share something you know. Ask something you’ve been afraid to ask. Connect across the divide — of country, of specialism, of background, of experience. The roofing industry is stronger when all of us are in it, fully and unapologetically. 

Learn more about NWIR (National Women in Roofing) in their Coffee Shop Directory or visit www.nationalwomeninroofing.org.

About Kate Whatley

Kate Whatley is the founder of Elevate Roofing Advisory and co-founder of Raise the Roof, a diversity, inclusion and leadership organisation for the UK roofing and built environment sector. She has over 22 years of experience in the roofing industry and is one of the Top 100 Influential Women in Construction 2025.